Lesson 14: "The Law of Consecration"

7/30/2019 Lesson 14: "The Law of Consecration"

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To download past handouts, go to: highlandvalleysundayschoolnotes2012.blogspot.com

#1 Brigham Young: We cannotown anything, in the strict sense of

the word, until we have power tobring into existence and hold in ex-istence, independent of all other

powers.(Journal of Discourses, 8:118)

#2 Brigham Young: I do not know that,during thirty years past, I have worn a coat,hat, or garment of any kind, or owned a

horse, carriage, &c., but what I asked theLord whether I deserved it or notShall Iuse this? Is it mine to use, or not?(JD 8:343)

If I have horses, oxen, and possessions,they are the Lords and not mine; and all Iask is for him to tell me what to do withthem.(JD 6:46)

#3 Hugh Nibley: As Adam was praying

one day, runs the story, a distinguishedgentleman appeared on the scene and en-gaged him in conversation. There was noth-ing of the hippy or tramp about thestranger; he was well-dressed and came toAdam with cunning and smooth talk, as atrue friend genuinely concerned for his wel-fare. He began with some harmless gener-alitiesthe weather and the scenery: itwas, he observed, a most glorious andbeautiful world. This was, however, by wayof leading up to his next point, which wasthat he happened to be the owner and pro-prietor of it all. Yes sir, as far as the eyecould see it was all his, and he tolerated nononsense in it: nobody dared make troublewhere he was in charge. This was all ho-

kum, of course; Satan never owned theearth; he never made a particle of it, said

Brigham Young; his labor is not to createbut to destroy. But to demonstrate his authority, when three strangers (usually de-scried as angels) appeared on the scene athis moment, he at once challenged themas trespassers, asking them if they had anmoney. He explained to Adam that every-thing in this world could be had for moneyand then got down to business. For the fe

low was all business, a person of integrityready to keep his part of an agreement (tagreement always turns out to be a trap fthe other party), pious and God-fearing,dedicated to hard workhe works, in factlike a demon. He was there to offer Adamthe chance of a lifetime to buy in on ascheme tat would give him anything hewanted in this world. It was an ingenious

and simple self-financing operation in whione would buy power with wealth and themore wealth with the power, until onemight end up owning and controlling everthing. The initial capital? It was right undetheir feet! You begin by taking the treasurof the earth and converting them to cash,gold, and silver; by exchanging them forthe services of important people in key positions you end up running everything youway. What if your rule is one of blood andterror? Better to reign in Hell, as MiltonsSatan puts it, than serve in Heaven.(Mans Dominion, New Era, Jan-Feb 1981)


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#4 Brigham Young: It is the privilege ofthe Saints to enjoy every good thing, forthe earth and its fulness belong to the Lord,and he has promised all to his faithfulSaints; but it must be enjoyed without [the]spirit of covetousness and selfishness That

is where all but a few fail the test: Theearth is organized for a glorious resurrec-tion, and life and death are set before thepeople, true riches and false riches; and thewhole world are gone after the falseriches.(Collected Works of Hugh Nibley, 13:34)

#5 Brigham Young: It is not our privilegeto waste the Lords substance.

For whatever you have, it is the LordsYou own nothing, I own nothing The Lohas placed what I have in my hands, to sewhat I will do with it I have neither wifenor child they are only committed to meto see how I will treat them. If I am faith-

ful, the time will come when they will begiven to me. The same applies to the woof nature, which we also hold in trust: Noone particle of all that comprises this vastcreation of God is our own. Everything wehave has been bestowed upon us for ouraction, to see what we would do with itwhether we would use it for eternal life anexaltation or for eternal death and degrad

tion.(Ibid, 33)

When we reach the state of having the pure love of Christ, ourdesire to serve one another will have grown to the point where wewill be living fully the law of consecration.~President Marion G. Romney, CR Oct. 1981

What prohibits us from giving as much in fast offerings as we would havegiven in surpluses under the United Order? Nothing but our own limitations~Elder Marion G. Romney, CR Apr. 19

I think sometimes we think that when we submit to theLords will that it wont be what we really want, but whenwe submit to the Lords will its actually better than we couldever imagine.

~Sister Salcido, Church News, April 28, 1013


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President Monson:Old Bob came into our lives in an interesting way. He was a widower in his eightie

when the house in which he was living was to be demolished. I heard him tell my grandfather his plight the three of us sat on the old front porch swing. . . He said, Mr. Condie, I dont know what to do. I haveno family, no place to go. I have no money. I wondered how grandfather would answer. Slowly grandfa

ther reached into his pocket and took from it [an] old leather purse . . . He removed a key and handed it

Old Bob. Tenderly he said, Bob, here is the key to that house I own next door. Take it. Move in yourthings. Stay as long as you like. There will be no rent to pay and nobody will ever put you out again. (C

April 1981)

Elder Christofferson: At the end of July this year, young single adults from several countries in easteEurope gathered outside Budapest, Hungary, for a conference. Among this group were 20 young men anwomen from Moldova who had spent days obtaining passports and visas and over 30 hours traveling bybus to get there.

The conference program included some 15 workshops. Each person needed to select the two or thre

that he or she most wanted to attend. Rather than focus exclusively on their own interests, these Moldo-van young adults got together and made plans so that at least one of their group would be in each class

and take copious notes. Then they would share what they had learned with each other and later with theyoung adults in Moldova who could not attend. In its simplest form, this exemplifies the unity and love foone another that, multiplied thousands of times in different ways, will "bring again Zion" (CR, Oct. 2008)

Elder Groberg: (This note was included with a check for $1000 to the presiding Bishop from Elder Groberg):

Recently, while visiting one of the far distant islands that is very difficult to gto, I went late in the day to the home of one of the good widow sisters there

When I first approached her hut the sun was still quite bright and I could nohelp but notice the stark poverty of her surroundings. It had been raining earlier. The mud and decay and the ever-present smell of drying fish were at firsrepulsive. But the warmth of meeting with a fellow Church memberespecia

after years of separationtogether with tears of appreciation for the long-awaited visit, soon pushed theunpleasantness of the surroundings temporarily into the background.As we conversed in her fluid native tongue and she told of her love for and faith in the Church and of athe blessings she had received, I could not help but think about her apparently miserable circumstances.

All sorts of ideas went through my mind, and I must have let my thoughts wander as I suddenly becameaware that somewhere between phrases about blessings and poverty and service she had gone to her huand was now returning with a small knotted rag.Suddenly my mind seemed to fill with light, and the words fast offerings flooded in. I was so excitedwith the idea that had come so suddenly and so clearly, that you can imagine my utter amazement and

unpreparedness when she took a threepence (a coin worth about 3) from her rag and said softly, Heremy fast offering to help the poor.I wanted to explain that fast offering was to help her, not for her to help others. The explanation nevercame, for as I looked through misty eyes, first at the threepence then back at the good sister, the wholescene changed.The hut was a glowing mansion and the mud was gold. The world seemed to standstill for a moment. All of nature seemed to stop and listen as from the heavens the wholeuniverse seemed filled with the reassuring words: Blessed are the poor for theirs is thekingdom of heaven.As the setting sun signaled the end of the day, so it also told of the approaching end of

Other thoughts too great not to include:


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her beautiful life of service.I took the threepence, and as I write this check the whole experience once again fills my mind and I woder, How many threepences to make a thousand dollars? (Victor L. Brown, CR, April 1981)

First Presidency Message:Communism and all other similar isms are merely the clumsy counterfeiwhich Satan always devises of the gospel plan. Communism debases the individual and makes him the eslaved tool of the state to whom he must look for sustenance and religion; the United Order exalts the in

vidual, leaves him his property, according to his family, according to his circumstances and his wants andneeds, (D&C 51:3) and provides a system by which he helps care for his less fortunate brethren; theunited Order leaves every man free to choose his own religion as his conscience directs. Communism destroys mans God-given free agency; the United Order glorifies it. Latter-day Saints cannot be true to thefaith and lend aid, encouragement, or sympathy to any of these false philosophies. They will prove snareto their feet. (CR, April 1942)

Brigham Young:Instead of teaching them personally, [the Lord] has raised up his authorized teacherto do this work He requires us to take [converts] and teach them how to live, and how to becomehealthy, wealthy and wise [If] the property of the whole community were divided today equally amongall, a year from today we should need another division, for some would waste and squander it away,

while others would add to their portion. The skill of building up Zion is to take the people and teachthem how to take care of themselves and that which the Lord has entrusted to their care If we couldtake this people, in their present condition, and teach them how to sustain and maintain themselves andittle more, we would add to that which we already have; but to take what we have and divideamongst or give to people, without teaching them how to earn and produce, would be nomore nor less than to introduce the means of reducing them to a state of poverty. I do notwish for one moment to recognize the idea that in order to establish the United Order ourproperty has to be divided equally among the people, to let them do what they please with iBut the idea is to get the people into the same state of unity in all things temporal, that wefind ourselves in with regard to things spiritual. Then let those who possess the ability andwisdom direct the labors of those not so endowed, until they too develop the talents withinthem and in time acquire the same degree of ability I am opposed to taking away propertyfrom one man and giving it to another who knows not how to take care of it.(JD 18:354-357

Brigham Young:The brethren wished me to go among the Churches, and find out what surplus prop-erty the people had, with which to forward the building of the Temple [in] Far West Before I started,asked brother Joseph, Who shall be the judge of what is surplus property? Said he, Let them be theudges themselves, for I care not if they do not give a single dime. So far as I am concerned, I do not wanything they have. (JD 2:307)

Elder Neal A. Maxwell: Increased consecration is not so much a demand for more hours of Church

work as it is for more awareness of Whose work this really is! For now, consecration may not require givup worldly possessions so much as being less possessed by them. (Settle This in Your Hearts, Ensign,Nov. 1992)


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D&C LESSON 14 OUTLINEOn the Board:For of him unto whom much is given much is required (D&C 82:3)D&C:42:3042:35

42:4042:4251:978:3-778:1482:17-19

In your minds eye, will each of you go home and look around? Look at all the thing

youve worked so hard to acquire: maybe your home itself, a car, furniture, electron-cs, jewelry, animals, other things that you love. Now decide which of these things ayour most valued possessions. With those things in mind, lets turn to:

D&C 104:13-14~What do we learn here about the true owner of all we possess?

I like how Brigham Young put it in:Quotation #1

~If we are not owners of our things, what are we? (stewards, see D&C104:14)

~And what does that mean, exactly, to be a steward?Quotation #2

This concept, that God is owner of all things both in the heavens and here on earth mperative. To really appreciate this we need to go back to father Adam. Hugh Nibleput together excerpts from many different books, called Adam literature, which habeen discovered both in the Dead Sea Scrolls and the Nag Hamadi library unearthedn Egypt:

Quotation #3

~If the riches of the earth do not belong to Satan, how can we imagine theybelong to us?

Quotation #s 4 & 5~When are we using what weve been blessed with for eternal death and deg

radation? (when we begin to seek our own will rather than Gods)

In order to help us see our things in the proper perspective, Heavenly Father re-vealed the Law of Consecration. (D&C 42:30) The Church was not even a year old


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when Joseph received this law through revelation in Kirtland.~What does consecrate mean? (to set apart, or dedicate something to the

service of the Lord)So the Law of Consecration is an organized way for us to consecrate all that we havand are to help in Heavenly Fathers work.

~What is Heavenly Fathers work? (to get us all home to Him, see Moses 1:39

Lets turn to our first scripture on the board:(Were going to scan about 8 scriptures in order to get an overview of this GREATBLESSING of a LAW!!)D&C42:30 Care for those in need

35Build churches/temples, etc40 Overcome pride (How does this help?)

42 Be industrious51:9 Be one (How does this help? Pride is thinking more of ourselves than others)78:3-7- =earthly =heavenly (How does being equal in earthly things help us obtai

heavenly things? By seeking the welfare of others,we become like our Father in Heaven)

78:14Church independent (Why is this important?)82:17-19 Charity

President Marion G. Romney taught: When we reach the state of havingthe pure love of Christ, our desire to serve one another will have

grown to the point where we will be living fully the law of consecra-tion.

~Where in the scriptures do we find this law being practiced by people of othedispensations? (Enoch, Moses 7:18; Saints following the Saviors resurrection, Acts 4:32, 34-35; Nephites after Saviors visit, 4 Nephi 1)

~Is this an eternal law, meaning, will we be living it in the Celestial Kingdom?Does Heavenly Father live this law? (YES!)

~Even though the Lord is not now requiring the Church to live the Law of Consecration in an organized way, can we still live it individually?

~How? First lets concentrate on the harder answers: things we can consecrateother than property and money:-Accept and magnify callings extended through the Bishop-Serve wherever the Spirit guides-Sustain everyone in their callings, as we promise when we raise our han

to the square in sacrament meeting


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-Seek the Lords will first, build His kingdom and He will guide us in everything else

-Give freely and humbly of our time, talents, etc

~And what opportunities are ours to give of our surplus?-Generous fast offerings

Elder Marion G. Romney: What prohibits us from giving as much infast offerings as we would have given in surpluses under theUnited Order? Nothing but our own limitations (CR Apr. 1966)

-Humanitarian Aid-Ward/General Missionary fund-Perpetual Education fund-Book of Mormon-Temple construction

-Other-Serving as a full-time missionary

Elder Robert D. Hales: Going on a mission teaches you to live thelaw of consecration. It may be the only time in your life whenyou can give to the Lord all your time, talents, and resources.In return, the Lord will bless you with His Spirit to be with youHe will be close to you and strengthen you (CR, Apr. 1996)

In Abraham 3:25 it says, speaking of the purpose of creating this earth, And we wi

prove them herewith, to see if they will do all things whatsoever the Lord their Godshall command them. In this weeks Church News, theres an article about a motheand daughter who were both inspired, separately, to serve missions. They ended upeaving just a week apart, and after explaining all the miracles involved, the articleends with a quote from the mother:There is no way anyone couldve ever or-chestrated how everything has worked out, Sister Salcido said. I thinksometimes we think that when we submit to the Lords will that it wont bwhat we really want, but when we submit to the Lords will its actually

better than we could ever imagine. (Church News, April 28, 1013)

I pray that we will ponder the law of consecration, and how we can better live it, sothat we can qualify for the blessings which will come as we do so...

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Lesson 14: "The Law of Consecration"